The Great Peace towards which
people of good will throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts, of which seers
and poets for countless generations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to
age the sacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last
within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone
to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective.
World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of
this planet -- in the words of one great thinker, "the
planetization of mankind".

Whether peace is to be reached only after
unimaginable horrors precipitated by humanity's stubborn clinging to old patterns of
behavior, or is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice before
all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the intractable problems
confronting nations have been fused into one common concern for the whole world, failure
to stem the tide of conflict and disorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.

Among the favorable signs are the steadily
growing strength of the steps towards world order taken initially near the beginning of
this century in the creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based
United Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of independence by
the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the completion of the process of
nation building, and the involvement of these fledgling nations with older ones in matters
of mutual concern; the consequent vast increase in cooperation among hitherto isolated and
antagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the scientific,
educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in recent decades of an
unprecedented number of international humanitarian organizations; the spread of women's
and youth movements calling for an end to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening
networks of ordinary people seeking understanding through personal communication.

The scientific and technological advances
occurring in this unusually blessed century portend a great surge forward in the social
evolution of the planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of
humanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the administration of the
complex life of a united world. Yet barriers persist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices,
suspicions and narrow self-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to
another.

It is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral
duty that we are impelled at this opportune moment to invite your attention to the
penetrating insights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century ago
by Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the Bahá'í
Faith, of which we are the Trustees.

"The winds of
despair", Bahá'u'lláh wrote, "are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the
strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of
impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order
appears to be lamentably defective." This prophetic judgement has been amply
confirmed by the common experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are
conspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United Nations to exorcise
the specter of war, the threatened collapse of the international economic order, the
spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the intense suffering which these and other
afflictions are causing to increasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and
conflict come to characterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have
succumbed to the view that such behavior is intrinsic to human nature and therefore
ineradicable.

With the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing
contradiction has developed in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations
proclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony, for an end to
the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On the other, uncritical assent
is given to the proposition that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and
thus incapable of erecting a social system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and
harmonious, a system giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based on
cooperation and reciprocity.

As the need for peace becomes more urgent, this
fundamental contradiction, which hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the
assumptions upon which the commonly held view of mankind's historical predicament is
based. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct, far from
expressing man's true self, represents a distortion of the human spirit. Satisfaction on
this point will enable all people to set in motion constructive social forces which,
because they are consistent with human nature, will encourage harmony and cooperation
instead of war and conflict.

To choose such a course is not to deny
humanity's past but to understand it. The Bahá'í Faith regards the current world
confusion and calamitous condition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic
process leading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race in a
single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The human race, as a
distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary stages analogous to the stages of
infancy and childhood in the lives of its individual members, and is now in the
culminating period of its turbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of
age.

A candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and
exploitation have been the expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and
that the human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks its
collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a prerequisite to undertaking the
stupendous enterprise of building a peaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible,
that the necessary constructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be
erected, is the theme we urge you to examine.

Whatever suffering and turmoil the years
immediately ahead may hold, however dark the immediate circumstances, the Bahá'í
community believes that humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its
ultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the convulsive changes
towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly impelled will serve to release the "potentialities inherent in the station of man" and reveal
"the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his
reality".